Pilot study of plastic waste disposal through plasma pyrolysis technology

Plasma pyrolysis is one of the technologies which could be opted for disposal of plastic waste. In Plasma pyrolysis, high temperature is produced using plasma torch in oxygen starved environment to destroy plastic waste efficiently and in an eco-friendly manner. To find out its performance, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) sponsored a project titled “Plastic Waste Disposal using Plasma Pyrolysis Technology” to Facilitation Centre for Industrial Plasma Technology (FCIPT), Institute for Plasma Research, Gandhinagar (Gujarat). The experiment has been conducted using different categories of plastic waste such as thin carry bags, metalized and multi layer pouches etc. During the experiment emission monitoring has been carried out for particulate matter (PM), Oxides of Nitrogen (NOx), Carbon Monoxide (CO), Dioxins and Furans. The analytical data indicate that the emissions of toxic pollutants including dioxins and furans are lower than the prescribed standards for hazardous waste incinerators. Pyrolysis of plastic (polyethylene) provides 90% combustible gases. It would be appreciable to recover energy to make plasma pyrolysis economically viable.